The Role of Forgiveness and Self-Esteem in the Explanation of Mental Well-Being

Abstract

Besides mental well-being, one of the important phenomena of positive psychology, the tendency towards forgiveness and a higher level of self-esteem are also related to positive situations. This provides inspiration for investigating the relationships between these variables as a topic. The aim of this research is to determine whether the expressions of forgiveness and self-esteem explain the expression of mental well-being. For this purpose, a model is created, hypotheses are developed, and multiple regression analysis is used to analyse the data. The research includes 505 students (317 females and 188 males) studying at university. As a result, it is found that self-forgiveness, and self-esteem significantly and positively explain mental well-being. Moreover, self-forgiveness explain self-esteem significantly and positively. Again, self-forgiveness significantly explains mental well-being through self-esteem. Other-forgiveness explains mental well-being in a positive direction and significantly. However, other-forgiveness does not have a significant indirect effect on mental well-being, and thus, self-esteem does not play a significant mediating role. Future studies different hypotheses may be tested on the model using different psychological (narcissism, depression, empathy, perceived social support) and demographic (age, economic status, marital status) variables.